1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to barbecue and, more particularly, to an apparatus for boosting fire and collecting ash in barbecue.
2. Related Prior Art
Barbecue is a primitive way of cooking food. In modern barbecue, solid fuel is often burned in a barbecue grill. Such solid fuel may be wood or coal. The solid fuel is spread in the barbecue grill. It takes quite some time to light a fire on the solid fuel. In the combustion of the solid fuel, ash is produced. It is troublesome to collect the ash.
To reduce the time for lighting a fire on the solid fuel, there have been devised various apparatuses for boosting fire such as those disclosed in Taiwanese Patents 1275639, 1370222 and M332172 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,536,692, 3,191,556, 5,197,455, 5,230,325, 5,469,835 and 6,913,013. However, these apparatuses are not useful for collecting ash produced from the combustion of the solid fuel.
There have been devised various apparatuses for collecting the ash such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,559 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20060054158. However, these apparatuses are not useful for boosting fire.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,209,743, a barbecue grill includes a bowl 11, a receptacle 23, a grate 26 and closure means. The bowl 11 includes a bottom element 24 that includes a grate 26 formed between two L-shaped flanges 27. The grate 26 inherently includes holes 25 defined therein. The receptacle 23 includes a side wall 29, a peripheral flange 40 formed on an upper edge of the side wall 29, and a cup 30 welded to a lower edge of the side wall 29. Holes 32 are defined in the cup 30. The closure means includes a plate 35 pivotally connected to the cup 30 by a rivet 36. In use, coal 43 is placed on the grate 26 while combustible material 33 is placed in the receptacle 23. The plate 35 in placed in an opening position where the plate 35 opens the holes 32. The combustible material 33 is ignited by a burning match. The peripheral flange 40 is engaged with the L-shaped flanges 27 to attach the receptacle 23 to the bowl 11. The coal 43 is ignited by the burning combustible material 33 and spread evenly on the bottom element 24 of the bowl 11. The plate 35 is pivoted to a closing position where the plate 35 covers the holes 32. After the combustion of the coal 43, ash is collected in the receptacle 23 through the grate 26. The receptacle 23 alone cannot be used to contain the coal 43. That is, the receptacle 23 cannot be used to boost fire without the synchronous use of the bowl 11 of the barbecue grill.
Therefore, the present invention is intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.